Virtual College Blog

Recognition of Fort Hays State University's online offerings as among
the best in the country have continued to come since January's U.S. News
& World Report published their rankings. Those rankings placed FHSU
as the top Kansas school, and one of the elite schools in the country,
for its education programs offered through the Virtual College.

Fort
Hays State University's online degrees, offered through the Virtual
College, were recognized in January by U.S. News & World Report as
the top online programs in Kansas and among the very best offered in the
United States, have again been recognized for excellence. Most
recently, FHSU ranked No. 5 nationally for Best Online Bachelor's
Programs for Veterans, No. 16 for Best Online Graduate Nursing Programs
for Veterans, and No. 17 in Best Online Graduate Business Programs for
Veterans.

FHSU's Virtual College offers 27 bachelor's degree
programs and 14 master's degree programs online. Many offer multiple
concentrations so students can choose the course work that best meets
their needs.

"These rankings are important independent
confirmations of the excellent value -- very high quality and low cost
-- of our Virtual College offerings here at Fort Hays State," said
Dennis King, director of the Virtual College.

"Since we invest
our money to raise quality in our academic programs and to keep tuition
low rather than buy a college bowl game, or buy a bus and travel the
country with our name across the side of it, or spend a fortune on
national media advertising, it's wonderful to get this kind of
recognition and affirmation from entities like U.S. News and the other
ranking agencies."

Another recent recognition came from the
National Council on Teacher Quality, in its 2014 Teacher Prep Review. On
campus as well as online, FHSU ranked No. 3 in the nation for
Elementary Education and No. 12 in Secondary Education. FHSU ranked No. 1
among all schools in Kansas.

The university's undergraduate
secondary education programs were the top in the NCTQ's Midwest Region,
comprised of the 12 states from Ohio to Kansas, north to North Dakota
and east to Michigan.

In yet another ranking, FHSU was named one
of five colleges among the least expensive in the United States in an
article in USA Today. That article listed FHSU as fifth least expensive.
The USA Today report was based on affordability ratings from Online U
(www.onlineu.org) and rankings of online programs by The Best Colleges
(www.thebestcolleges.org).

OnlineU.org, a website created by SR
Education Group, Kirkland, Wash., this month issued an expanded ranking
FHSU's early childhood education degrees No. 2 most affordable in the
nation. Teaching degrees generally were ranked as No. 4 most affordable
in the country. In February, OnlineU found that FHSU was the second-most
popular college in Kansas based on a study written on data from the
National Center for Education Statistics.

Overall, FHSU is also
in the top five in OnlineU's rankings in counseling, human resources, IT
and computer science, and nursing, and is among the organization's top
five in the nation overall.

TheBestSchools.org, in May recognized
FHSU’s B.S. in Business Administration and the M.B.A. in Tourism and
Hospitality Management as Wise Choices for affordability and quality.
These degrees scored high for transferability of credits, comprehensive
curriculum covering key aspects of business theories and practices and,
for the M.B.A., the ability to take time off for personal reasons and
come back to finish.

In March, the online M.B.A. program at FHSU
(the program has 11 concentration possibilities) was ranked a "Best Buy"
and placed No. 13 out of 124 colleges assessed by GetEducated.com.

On
a local level, the university's home city came in for praise from a
news site published by Movoto Real Estate, a national real estate
brokerage licensed in more than 30 states. Movoto listed Hays as the
third-most exciting place to live in Kansas, based on nightlife, live
music venues per capita, parks, outdoor activities, availability of arts
and entertainment, percentage (higher is better) of restaurants that
are not fast food, and percentage (higher is better) of residents age 18
to 34 (Hays came in at 37 percent). No. 1 was Manhattan, No. 2 was
Lawrence.